Following a failed POS software rollout, global travel retailer Gebr. Heinemann has launched a new project – this time with Diebold Nixdorf as its solution provider. As The Retail Optimiser learnt, POS software from Swedish specialists Extenda was supposed to replace LS One from Icelandic retail specialists LS Retail, which was acquired by Aptos in 2021. However, this apparently failed. With Diebold Nixdorf, Gebr. Heinemann has now brought one of the POS software providers with the most international installation base onto the runway.
The numerous national and distribution line-specific characteristics of Gebr. Heinemann’s approximately 500 stores in over 100 countries pose a major challenge for POS software providers. The travel retail specialists operate stores as duty-free and travel shops, but also on cruise ships, ferries and border crossings. “This retail company has to comply with yet another fiscalisation or airport regulation for almost every checkout,” jokes the manager of a POS software provider. According to the retail technology scene, some of the relevant POS software providers have therefore withdrawn from Gebr. Heinemann’s latest tender.
Diebold Nixdorf has now been awarded the contract. The implementation project has started, but is currently still in its early stages. In order to offer a mobile checkout in the hands of its employees, Gebr. Heinemann brought Snabble on board in 2023 as implementation on standard Android devices with the LS One system was not successful. The Retail Optimiser reported. Back in 2020, the travel retailer had already contracted a Latvian unit of Norwegian retail technology expert Strongpoint, which specialises in software, to further develop and maintain the complex requirements of its extremely international business within the LS Retail solution.
A long history of suffering
Gebr. Heinemann has also had to endure some hardships with regard to its checkouts in the past. Before introducing the LS One solution, which now belongs to Aptos, the travel retail experts even tried the POS software that SAP had purchased in Canada in 2005: SAP Triversity was simply unsuitable for the European market and became a nightmare for Tegut, among others. Gebr. Heinemann didn’t have any fun with it either.
